mgookin
Senior Member
- Location
- Fort Myers, FL
- Occupation
- Retired inspector, plans examiner & building official
Below is a simple drawing which labels the basic elements of a foundation (2 minutes work in AutoCAD). There was a recent thread where there was confusion over nomenclature and what's allowed and not allowed as far as getting an electrical installation to the other side of a foundation.
You should never compromise a footer (or footing). Don't drill through it and don't go underneath it. Don't try to run conduit or a sleeve through it before it's poured without the engineer who designed the foundation giving you a detail (there are ways to make it work such as putting a jump in the footing design but with electric that's not necessary so much as it would be with a sewer where you have a controlled slope to maintain).
Angle of Repose means the final resting position of the soils and it's different for different soils. Do not disturb the zone known as the Angle of Repose or you could cause the footer to fail some time in the future and that would get expensive not only in repairs to the foundation but also collateral damage inside the building like cracked walls, tile, etc. Especially if trenching parallel to the foundation, you need to be aware of the elevation of the bottom of the footing. The elevation of the bottom of the footing should be no higher than the frost line, or in the absence of a frost line for your region, 12" (there's no frost line in South Florida, for example). If you never go below the elevation of the bottom of the footing, you will never compromise the angle of repose.
You may penetrate the stemwall. You need to assure the penetration is rodent proof upon completion which is usually done by EC's with putty if you're dealing with a simple crawl space. If it is a basement, you will have to also render it waterproof which is usually best done with hydraulic cement and a waterproofing membrane.
I think everyone already knew of these requirements, but someone was confused on which part of the foundation is which and which rules apply to which. I hope this helps.
View attachment Foundation-Layout1.pdf
You should never compromise a footer (or footing). Don't drill through it and don't go underneath it. Don't try to run conduit or a sleeve through it before it's poured without the engineer who designed the foundation giving you a detail (there are ways to make it work such as putting a jump in the footing design but with electric that's not necessary so much as it would be with a sewer where you have a controlled slope to maintain).
Angle of Repose means the final resting position of the soils and it's different for different soils. Do not disturb the zone known as the Angle of Repose or you could cause the footer to fail some time in the future and that would get expensive not only in repairs to the foundation but also collateral damage inside the building like cracked walls, tile, etc. Especially if trenching parallel to the foundation, you need to be aware of the elevation of the bottom of the footing. The elevation of the bottom of the footing should be no higher than the frost line, or in the absence of a frost line for your region, 12" (there's no frost line in South Florida, for example). If you never go below the elevation of the bottom of the footing, you will never compromise the angle of repose.
You may penetrate the stemwall. You need to assure the penetration is rodent proof upon completion which is usually done by EC's with putty if you're dealing with a simple crawl space. If it is a basement, you will have to also render it waterproof which is usually best done with hydraulic cement and a waterproofing membrane.
I think everyone already knew of these requirements, but someone was confused on which part of the foundation is which and which rules apply to which. I hope this helps.
View attachment Foundation-Layout1.pdf
